The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi

Mpho Raborife; Giuseppina Turco; Sabine Zerbian

doi:10.1109/RoboMech.2016.7813146

The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi

Mpho Raborife, Giuseppina Turco, Sabine Zerbian

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Sepedi (Southern Bantu, S30) does not have grammaticalized focus prosody due to which focused constituents are unambiguously marked by prosodic prominence in one way or another. Nevertheless, prosodic traces of emphasis might still exist. The paper reports on a study that investigates acoustic traces of emphasis in Sepedi and their role for processing. An auditory analysis of sentences uttered in different focus contexts reveals a number of acoustic cues occurring in different focus structures. However, the cues are not consistently present and therefore raise the question as to their relevance for semantic interpretation. Results from a phoneme-detection study are used to investigate the role of these acoustic cues for processing.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)	9781509033355
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboMech.2016.7813146
Publication status	Published - 10 Jan 2017
Externally published	Yes
Event	2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016 - Stellenbosch, South Africa Duration: 30 Nov 2016 → 2 Dec 2016

Publication series

Name	2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016

Conference

Conference	2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016
Country/Territory	South Africa
City	Stellenbosch
Period	30/11/16 → 2/12/16

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Artificial Intelligence
Computer Science Applications
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

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10.1109/RoboMech.2016.7813146

Cite this

Raborife, M., Turco, G., & Zerbian, S. (2017). The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi. In 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016 Article 7813146 (2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboMech.2016.7813146

Raborife, Mpho ; Turco, Giuseppina ; Zerbian, Sabine. / The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi. 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2017. (2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016).

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title = "The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi",

abstract = "Sepedi (Southern Bantu, S30) does not have grammaticalized focus prosody due to which focused constituents are unambiguously marked by prosodic prominence in one way or another. Nevertheless, prosodic traces of emphasis might still exist. The paper reports on a study that investigates acoustic traces of emphasis in Sepedi and their role for processing. An auditory analysis of sentences uttered in different focus contexts reveals a number of acoustic cues occurring in different focus structures. However, the cues are not consistently present and therefore raise the question as to their relevance for semantic interpretation. Results from a phoneme-detection study are used to investigate the role of these acoustic cues for processing.",

author = "Mpho Raborife and Giuseppina Turco and Sabine Zerbian",

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Raborife, M, Turco, G & Zerbian, S 2017, The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi. in 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016., 7813146, 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 30/11/16. https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboMech.2016.7813146

The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi. / Raborife, Mpho; Turco, Giuseppina; Zerbian, Sabine.
2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2017. 7813146 (2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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AU - Zerbian, Sabine

PY - 2017/1/10

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N2 - Sepedi (Southern Bantu, S30) does not have grammaticalized focus prosody due to which focused constituents are unambiguously marked by prosodic prominence in one way or another. Nevertheless, prosodic traces of emphasis might still exist. The paper reports on a study that investigates acoustic traces of emphasis in Sepedi and their role for processing. An auditory analysis of sentences uttered in different focus contexts reveals a number of acoustic cues occurring in different focus structures. However, the cues are not consistently present and therefore raise the question as to their relevance for semantic interpretation. Results from a phoneme-detection study are used to investigate the role of these acoustic cues for processing.

AB - Sepedi (Southern Bantu, S30) does not have grammaticalized focus prosody due to which focused constituents are unambiguously marked by prosodic prominence in one way or another. Nevertheless, prosodic traces of emphasis might still exist. The paper reports on a study that investigates acoustic traces of emphasis in Sepedi and their role for processing. An auditory analysis of sentences uttered in different focus contexts reveals a number of acoustic cues occurring in different focus structures. However, the cues are not consistently present and therefore raise the question as to their relevance for semantic interpretation. Results from a phoneme-detection study are used to investigate the role of these acoustic cues for processing.

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M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85011954114

T3 - 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016

BT - 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

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Raborife M, Turco G, Zerbian S. The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi. In 2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2017. 7813146. (2016 Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics International Conference, PRASA-RobMech 2016). doi: 10.1109/RoboMech.2016.7813146

The prosody of focus and emphasis in Sepedi

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